It's (still) OK to be pragmatic!
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Deciding to adopt an agile way of working is great! Being precious about the agile framework you decide to use is not. For one reason or another, since adopting agile, we’ve become a community of obsessive practitioners who seem unable to take a pragmatic approach to making project or process decisions. Never has such a sense of entitlement been seen in project teams than in those who have recently converted to agile. 'Agile experts' have constantly told teams that to get any value, you take an all or nothing approach towards implementation. Belittling all previous process ideas, agile culture can sometimes be toxic and can turn the development team against the business if not properly facilitated. In this session, we’ll explore how an agile transition is never an overnight job and that to succeed in any type of project delivery, pragmatism is still a vital ingredient. Having a vision to be better with agile is crucial, but so is an understanding that it will take time, it will be disruptive, and it should be pragmatic.
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It's (still) OK to be pragmatic!
- 1. IT’S (STILL) OKAY TO BE JAMES HARVEY
- 2. JAMES HARVEY ▸Over a decade working with Agile teams ▸From developer to trainer and coach ▸Agile Snap: BCS Accredited Training Partner ▸Co-organiser of South Wales Agile Group ▸Pragmatic!
- 3. WHY TALK ABOUT PRAGMATISM? ▸Project teams can be extremely stubborn ▸Teams often feel confined by their processes ▸Leaders can be precious about a specific framework ▸Don’t just do the right thing, do it the right way ▸Empowering individuals and teams ▸Shaking that sense of entitlement
- 5. AGILE IS GREAT ▸It’s great that we all believe in Agile ▸Even better, we care about how we deliver software ▸Agile delivery became a thing because waterfall delivery just didn’t cut it for software projects ▸If used correctly, there is no better way to deliver software ▸But we’ve gotten a little lost recently ▸Desire to pick a framework immediately
- 7. CHOOSING A FRAMEWORK FOCUS ON BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION & SATISFACTION EMPHASIS ON DIVIDING THE PROJECT INTO MANAGEABLE AND CONTROLLABLE STAGES FLEXIBILITY THAT CAN BE APPLIED AT A LEVEL APPROPRIATE TO THE PROJECT
- 9. DEALING WITH THINGS SENSIBLY AND REALISTICALLY IN A WAY THAT IS BASED ON PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS. Pragmatic WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
- 10. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS” ▸Come up with a solution that fits the problem ▸This might start with what a process tells you what to do ▸Abandon the process if it doesn’t work ▸Use your experience to think of a new solution ▸Remember what worked for next time… ▸…but don’t have a process for everything
- 11. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 12. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 13. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 14. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 15. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 16. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 17. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 18. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 19. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 20. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS”
- 21. IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY, TRY AGAIN. William Edward
- 23. WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT? ▸What data do we have? ▸What do we know? ▸ What does this mean to us? ▸ What’s the context? ▸ What are we going to do with this? ▸ What have we learned?
- 24. SOUNDS LIKE COMMON SENSE ▸It is! ▸Try something; if it fails, try something else ▸Don’t continue to do the same thing just because the process tells you to do so ▸Use your experience as a professional to make decisions ▸Fail early and adapt
- 26. BEING PRAGMATIC IS EASIER THAN YOU MIGHT
- 27. IT STARTS WITH LEADERSHIP ▸Focus on the practical “how do we get this done” side of a task ▸Take each step at a time, adjusting regularly ▸Realistic; often seen as negative PRAGMATIC LEADERS IDEALIST LEADERS ▸Focus on the vision; big ideas ▸Focus on the end result rather than the path/journey ▸Rose-tinted glasses
- 28. WHICH IN TURN AFFECTS CULTURE ▸Leaders will influence team and organisation culture ▸Involve everyone ▸Pragmatic approach allows us to identify our current weaknesses without ▸Dismissing current processes invokes a “them and us” attitude ▸Culture can be the single most important factor when it comes to delivery success or failure
- 30. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS” PEOPLE AND INTERACTIONS OVER
- 32. WE DON’T WANT TO “BURN” ANYTHING ▸Use the best of everything! ▸The best Agile practitioners are framework agnostic ▸Never be precious about a framework ▸The grass is sometimes greener ▸Outside of the box thinking for retrospective actions ▸If something works for you; great!
- 33. YESTERDA Y I DID THIS THING… TODAY I’M DOING THIS THING… I DON’T HAVE ANY BLOCKERS … I WONDER IF ANYONE SAW THE FOOTBALL LAST NIGHT…
- 34. THERE’S FAR MORE TO AGILE SCRUM LEAN DSDM KANBA N LESSSAFE
- 35. SCRUM IS POPULAR
- 37. START WITH AGILE, NOT SCRUM ▸Almost all teams adopt Scrum or another framework straight off the bat ▸Consider your existing process and any barriers ▸Use a Kanban approach to map your existing process workflow and look for quick wins ▸Don’t just pick a flavour of Agile straight away; become Agile first!
- 39. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS” WORKING SOFTWARE OVER COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION
- 40. BUT NOT JUST WORKING SOFTWARE ▸Working software shows us what we’ve achieved ▸It’s the most practical consideration you can get! ▸Working software alone doesn’t always help with forecasting ▸So we might still need to produce documents ▸We still need to know things that only reporting and documentation can help us with
- 42. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS” CUSTOMER COLLABORATION OVER CONTRACT
- 43. BLANK CHEQUE?
- 44. COLLABORATIVE CONTRACTS ▸The customer has a right to expect something by an agreed date ▸However, project teams also cannot be expected to commit to a big bang delivery ▸Both sides should agree that quality will not be compromised whatever happens ▸The solution is somewhere in the middle
- 46. THE PRAGMATIC IRON TRIANGLE SCOP E COS T QUAL ITY TIME
- 48. PRAGMATIC ESTIMATION ▸We can (and should) estimate at any stage of the project ▸The scale we use should be appropriate for the stage in which we are
- 49. TASKS SMALLEST ITEMS ESTIMATE WITH HOURS USER STORIES SMALL ITEMS ESTIMATE WITH STORY POINTS EPIC STORIES MEDIUM ITEMS ESTIMATE WITH SHIRT SIZES THEMES LARGE ITEMS ESTIMATE WITH AFFINITY IDEAS LARGEST ITEMS ESTIMATE WITH FINGER IN AIR
- 50. “PRACTICAL RATHER THAN THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS” RESPONDING TO CHANGE OVER FOLLOWING A
- 52. PLANNING TO CHANGE ▸Planning in Agile teams should be frequent ▸Responding to change is essential ▸We should plan in a way that encourages change ▸Have requirements, but keep them as brief as possible ▸Respect your customer ▸Think of change more as refinement
- 53. DON’T OBSESS OVER DETAILS
- 56. BECOME MORE PRAGMATIC ▸Beware of tunnel vision ▸Think outside of the box ▸Don’t be afraid to “break the rules” ▸Don’t lose faith! ▸A pragmatic approach will help you work in a more Agile way, whilst respecting your existing business ▸The journey is far more important than the goal
- 58. HIDDEN TRUTHS OF AGILE TRANSITION ▸It’s going to cost a lot of money ▸It’s going to be very disruptive ▸You won’t see a ROI for a while ▸Small changes will make a difference ▸You probably can’t use a single framework by the letter ▸This is exactly why we need a pragmatic approach
- 59. FURTHER READING
- 60. BCS AGILE FOUNDATION ▸The only certified Agile training course that is truly framework agnostic ▸Ensures a broad understanding of a range of Agile principles and methodologies ▸Keeps the focus on the journey rather than the destination ▸Perfect for a pragmatic approach! ▸Public and private courses available
Editor's Notes
- I’ve encountered teams on many occasions that have lost any sense of pragmatism they had Because they’re “agile”, they don’t need pragmatism any more
- For many, it’s difficult to escape the tunnel vision Many believe that their framework is the best and so why look outside?
- Previously we had the black box effect
- “Individuals and interactions” don’t always work either
- Understand that some bosses don’t care about incremental steps They often work in bottom line numbers only
- I see development teams pull this face all the time When they’ve been trained in Agile
- Rather than expect a customer to just “roll with it” Milestone based delivery with fixed costs and an agreed scope
- Understand that a change doesn't always have to be a u-turn We still want to plan, but we leave our plan as open as possible until the last minute